Eugene Harvey is one of the best card gamers in the whole world, and was a key figure in TOGIT’s ascension to the TCG elite. He came to the Vs. System late, learning the game in the weeks leading up to the past PC after deciding to cash in his courtesy invite. After learning the game and poring over spoilers from all the sets, he came up with the X-Stall deck that dominated the constructed portion of So Cal—every single TOGIT player finished in the money, and three of them reached the elite eight.

Eugene decided to attend this tournament at the last minute, and while many of the other TOGIT players have turned to other decks for this event, he only had his So Cal deck to work with. He did make some changes, however. Scarlet Witch replaced the 5-drop Professor X, he went up to four copies of Sunfire, and he threw in a few Have a Blasts.

Oh, yeah . . . he also added one Avalon Space Station.

John Price is a New Jersey player participating in his first-ever Vs. tournament. Like Harvey, the man who inspired his deck choice this weekend, he was off to a solid 2-0 start. If he could get out of this round with an unblemished record, it would be quite a notch for his belt.

John limped out of the gate with no plays for his first three turns. Harvey was not exactly off to a blazing start, either—X-Stall never gets a beatdown draw. He had Puppet Master on turn 3, and used Cerebro to craft his late game play. Both players had Jean Grey, Marvel Girl on turn 4, and after Harvey locked the opposition version down with his Puppet Master, he was content to pass the turn.

I was getting the sense I was in for a long match when both players recruited Scarlet Witch for turn 5. Price got in some beats on Marvel Girl and flipped up X-Corporation at the end of the turn. Turn 6 saw Emma Frost, Headmistress of Xavier’s Academy from Harvey, and an awkward Rogue, Power Absorption from Price. He would have liked to have his own Cerebro to help smooth out his draws.

Jean Grey and Emma held hands and came after Price’s Scarlet Witch. Harvey’s Witch came after Rogue, but she made an Acrobatic Dodge, and it was on to turn 7.

Price made no play on turn 7 and found himself staring down the barrel of Professor X, World’s Most Powerful Telepath. Rogue stole Puppet Master’s ability and Price took 5 to exhaust one of Harvey’s alarmingly superior forces. Scarlet Witch tried to come over after Jean Grey, but Harvey had the Dodge this turn. The turn passed with a minimum of bloodshed and Price keeping pace with X-Corporation. The score was 36 to 35 in Harvey’s favor.

Harvey had Jean Grey, Phoenix Force for the eighth turn, and once again Price passed with no play. Rogue stole Professor X’s ability at the start of combat. Harvey sent Jean over to pulverize the Scarlet Witch, and when the Professor came after Rogue, Price used her to exhaust the Scarlet Witch. Emma laid the smackdown on Jean Grey, and all of Price’s team—what little of it there was—was stunned.

Price could not even play the Professor X he drew that turn because he did not control another X-Men character. He was holding Imperiex, but the game was not going to reach that stage, so the first-time Vs. player scooped to the seasoned veteran.